In a country with a rich rail history dating back to the 1800s, MMAR is a relative newcomer on the scene, in existence since only 2003.

LAC-MÉGANTIC — The train driver and two other railway employees accused of 47 counts of criminal negligence causing death when a runaway tanker train exploded in the centre of this Quebec town of 6,000, were released Tuesday on $15,000 bail each.

Montreal Maine & Atlantic Canada Co., operator of the train, is also accused of criminal negligence, in a charge sheet naming the three men and the company as causing the deaths of all 47 people who died in the fire and explosion on July 6.

Train driver Thomas Harding, 53, of Farnham, and railway employees Jean Demaître, 50, of Marieville, and Richard Labrie, 55, of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, were brought to a makeshift courthouse in Lac-Mégantic's Centre sportif in a police van.

Handcuffed, they were led into court, where Judge Paul Dunnigan of Quebec Court imposed bail conditions proposed by the crown prosecutor, which include turning in their passports, not possessing arms and not working for a railway unless a qualified railway employee is present.

Dates for preliminary hearings will be set Sept. 11.

Lawyer Tom Walsh, representing Harding, said his client wants a trial in English.

Later, outside the courtroom, Walsh said he will ask for a jury trail and wants it held in Lac-Mégantic.

"I saw the people here," Walsh said, standing outside as townspeople mingled with dozens of journalists. "No one was shouting or screaming. People were pretty calm."

One local woman touched Harding's arm after his release as he got into a car and left without answering reporters' questions.

Walsh said there could be separate French and English trials or there could be a bilingual jury to hear the case for the three accused.

Prosecutor René Verret, of Quebec's Direction des poursuites criminelles et pénales, said outside the courtroom the trial would be in Lac-Mégantic because "the events happened here."

Asked why Edward Burkhardt, owner of the railway, was not charged, Verret said the decision to press charges is the legal opinion of the prosecutor based on "information which must remain confidential."

"These three persons were accused," Verret said. "I will not go further."

While the railway is under creditor protection and on the verge of being sold to Fortress Investment Group of New York for $15.7 million, Verret said, it "still has a legal existence in Canada."

If convicted of criminal negligence causing death, the three men could be sentenced to life in prison, Verret said.

If the railway is found guilty, "the court can impose a fine and there is no minimum fine and there is no maximum," he added.

Verret defended the action of the Sûreté du Québec in sending its SWAT squad to Harding's Farnham home Monday afternoon to arrest him, saying the police "had motives to believe they had to act in that way."

Walsh said his client is suffering from post-traumatic stress and has not worked since the train wreck, calling the arrest another "hammer" blow for his "catatonic" client.

The lawyer said he had asked the prosecution service for advance notice of the arrest.

"He wanted to watch the hockey game like everyone else," he said.

"Instead, they took him to Parthenais (SQ headquarters in Montreal)," Walsh said.

"He was arrested with a SWAT squad that arrived suddenly at his house with sirens blaring and they ran into the back yard, put everybody down on the ground and handcuffed Mr. Harding and took off.

"What that does is it breaks the person down for a future interrogation," Walsh said.

The only contact Walsh had with his client after the arrest was a two-minute phone call from Harding telling his lawyer he was being held.

He learned on Tuesday that Harding was interrogated at Parthenais for 10 hours, from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m.

"That is the reason he was arrested," Walsh said.

Harding, wearing a plain green T-shirt, was polite in telling the judge he agreed to the bail conditions, as were Demaître and Labrie.

Walsh said Harding is well aware of the situation.

"He was the driver of a train and there are certain reproaches against him, but are these reproaches enough to convince a jury that the level of negligence was criminal?

"We will see.

"I don't think a jury will find that."

But even if he is acquitted, Walsh said, "he will always feel responsible. An acquittal will not change anything for him."

Raymond Lafontaine, a Lac-Mégantic businessman who lost four family members, including his son and daughter-in-law, in the explosion blamed lax enforcement of federal transport rules for the catastrophe.

"The guilty party is the federal government," Lafontaine said. "And I am a federalist."

There should have been two train drivers, the train should not have been left on a hilltop and the train did not have a permit to carry dangerous materials, he added.